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3 Best Ways to Prevent Iron Deficiency Anemia

  • Posted on July 30, 2010 at 11:15 am



Did you know that Iron Deficiency Anemia affects about 20% of the world’s population? It is also the most common type of anemia caused by inadequate dietary intake or absorption of iron. But if you do suffer from iron deficiency anemia due to lack of iron in your body, don’t look again on those poisonous iron supplements. Just follow these three preventive ways and you’re on the way of better living.

1. Eat Foods that are Rich in Iron

The best food sources of iron are wholegrain cereals, pulses and legumes, and fish. The best plant sources are green leafy vegetables such as dry lotus stems, cauliflower greens, and turnip greens; fruits such as black currants, watermelons, raisins, and dried dates. However, irons from these foods are hard for the body to absorb. It is recommended that you eat animal products, which contain heme iron. If you mix some lean meat, fish, or poultry with beans or dark leafy greens at a meal, you can improve absorption of vegetable sources of iron up to three times. Foods rich in vitamin C also increase iron absorption.

2. Cook Using Cast-Iron Cookwares

Did you know that cooking in cast-iron cookwares can add significant amounts of iron to your food and into your body? Yes, it’s true and this was proven by researchers who tested 20 foods. Acidic foods that have higher moisture content, such as applesauce and spaghetti sauce, absorb the most iron. In fact, for 100 grams of each (about 3.5oz.), the applesauce increased in iron content from 0.35mg to 7.3mg, and the spaghetti sauce jumped from 0.6mg to 5.7mg of iron.

Food cooked for longer periods of time absorbed more iron than food that was heated more quickly. Foods prepared with a newer iron skillet absorbed more iron than those cooked in an older one. Foods that were cooked and stirred more frequently absorbed greater amount of iron because they came into contact with the iron more often. Foods such as hamburger, corn tortillas, cornbread, and liver with onions won’t absorb much iron due to the shorter cooking times.

This list was provided so you can have general idea of the difference in dietary iron content when cooking in a cast-iron pan:

Foods Tested (100g/3.5oz) = Iron content when raw = Iron content after cooking in iron skillet

- Applesauce, unsweetened = 0.35mg = 7.38mg

- Spaghetti sauce = 0.61 = 5.77

- Chili with meat and beans = 0.96 = 6.27

- Medium white sauce = 0.22 = 3.30

- Scrambled egg = 1.49 = 4.76

- Spaghetti sauce with meat = 0.71 = 3.58

- Beef vegetable stew = 0.66 = 3.4

- Fried egg = 1.92 = 3.48

- Spanish rice = 0.87 = 2.25

- Rice, white = 0.67 = 1.97

- Pan broiled bacon = 0.77 = 1.92

- Poached egg = 1.87 = 2.32

- Fried chicken = 0.88 = 1.89

- Pancakes = 0.63 = 1.31

- Pan fried green beans = 0.64 = 1.18

- Pan broiled hamburger = 1.49 = 2.29

- Fried potatoes = 0.42 = 0.8

- Fried corn tortillas = 0.86 = 1.23

- Pan-fried beef liver with onions = 3.1 = 3.87

- Baked cornbread = 0.67 = 0.86

3. Avoid Whole Cow’s Milk on the First 12 Months of Life

Whole cow’s milk contains as much iron per liter as breast milk, but only a very small proportion is actually absorbed into the body. However, the iron in breast milk is very well absorbed by babies. Therefore, breast milk is one of the best sources of iron for baby providing all the iron needed (with all other nutrients and benefits) for the first 6 months of life. Bottom line: breast-feeding is the best way to prevent iron deficiency anemia in babies. If breast-feeding is not an option, or is stopped before 9-12 months, then iron-fortified formulas, which contain added iron, should be given to baby instead of whole cow’s milk.

Things to Remember:

* Chronic blood loss, times of increased need such as pregnancy, and vigorous exercise can trigger iron deficiency.

* Don’t take iron supplements unless advised by your doctor.

* There are two types of iron: heme iron (found in animal foods) and nonheme iron (found in plant foods). Combining foods that are high in heme iron with nonheme iron foods boosts the absorption power.

* Keep iron supplements away from children – as little as one to three grams can kill a child under six years.

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"No Approved Therapeutic Claims" In Herbal Supplements – What It Means

  • Posted on at 10:17 am

Herbal and dietary supplements represent a growing billion-dollar business in the U.S.,and worldwide. The herbal phenomenon is part of a larger “alternative medicine” movement, which seeks to utilize both traditional and New Age methods of disease prevention and treatment.

There is no doubt that the active ingredients in some herbal mixtures show great promise in the prevention and treatment of a wide range of diseases and ailments, as shown by a large body of scientific data that has been collected and published in reputable medical and scientific journals.

The use of herbal and dietary supplements, however, poses major health risks, and these risks are largely due to the varying nature of herbal preparations, as well as the lack of consumer protection generally given to prescription drugs by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), because herbal and dietary supplements are not officially classified as drugs.

Herbal medicines and dietary supplements are generally processed plant ingredients, solvent extracts, or essential oils of plants. All plants, including herbs, naturally synthesize a lot of complex chemical compounds as part of their metabolic activities. Many of these extracts are not directly related to the plant’s energy production but are toxins synthesized by the plant in order to ward off other plants, herbivores, and plant parasites.

Thus, all plant materials contain large numbers of chemical compounds, some of which may have a desired physiological effect and others which may have no effect whatever ,or may contain a number of harmful effects when consumed by individuals. Many herbs in fact, contain compounds that act differently from the principal active ingredient

What Exactly Does “No approved Therapeutic Claims” Mean

Lately there have been a lot of herbal supplements sold, which claim to aid vital organs from harm caused by excesses of lifestyle characterized by overindulgence in eating, drinking and other unsafe practices and immoderate diversions.

The proliferation of food and herbal supplements, which are being advertised and passed on as effective cure-all products, despite the fact that these food and herbal supplements have no established therapeutic effects, is a major headache for regulatory agencies and health watchdogs.

To the common consumer, the phrase would generally mean that a supplement has not yet been determined by the FDA to be as proven and effective as advertised. It could also mean that no studies and long-term research have yet been done to determine the efficacy of the pill, or herb in actually treating anything. This phrase usually serves as a disclaimer of sorts.

The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA) was passed by unanimously by the US Congress to ensure consumers’ rights to access safe and effective dietary supplements. This law gave the FDA the mandate to allow this access, and ensure the products were safe and made in a consistent manner.

The FDA last year, finally passed rules to require “Adverse Event Reporting”, which requires supplement companies to track safety data, as well as ensure good manufacturing practices. This means that supplements must be made to standardized quality to ensure that consumers are getting consistent products.

Prime Herbal – http://primeherbal.com

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Donkeyland, Minnesota (Part ? – A Classical Winter in Minnesota)

  • Posted on July 29, 2010 at 3:23 pm



(Part ?)(Concerning: Chick Evens, Ralph, Mary and Peggy, 1962)

Saint Paul, Minnesota winter Carnaval Days!

Young Chick Evens got out of bed in the wee hours of the morning, it was mid winter, and the trees in Minnesota, and in his neighborhood and downtown St. Paul, were covered with new snow; all along the residence streets in St. Paul When the wind started blowing, the light snow off the top of the old hard snow would be blown off to a new location, whirl crazily about, filling the air and making a carpet under everyone’s feet. All the winters were pert near the same, although this one would be different. The St. Paul, Winter Carnaval was going on, the torchlight parade had taken place, and they had built the world’s biggest Ice Castles in lots and in different locations throughout the city, in years past. It was to his knowledge the largest festival in the nation, and oldest, and coldest, and he often went to the center of the city for those cold but thrilling toboggan rides down Cedar to 10th Street, from the State Capitol.

In all respects, it was a classical winter, and Evens was fifteen-years old, just got his driving permit, not his license, and he was with Ralph Eldritch, and Mary Aldrich, and a girl named Peggy, Evens had not known, she was with Ralph. And they had been drinking, and they were on their way to Gray Cloud Island, to visit Ralph’s sister, drunk as skunks, reeking with booze. Since early on that evening both Ralph and Evens was drinking.

Light had climbed high into the sky, stars still shone as they drove mile after mile outside the city, beyond the last visible house, on a lonely road, the Mississippi River to the side of them, some great stretches of open fields, fields owned by farmers, old corn stalks showing above the snow, it was a cold, cold winter, and a dark evening, and the little light the moon gave was just a crack in the sky.

Evens had been in the center-seemingly so, of a great open place, on this winter’s night, and the curves were sharp, and slippery, and everything covered with snow and only that moon with the crack of light and those dim stars-I’ve already mentioned, along with foggy headlights to guide him, and a bleak wind blew on the car-you could hear it as it slapped the side of the windows, and it vibrated, and blended in with the loud music, but outside, had you stopped, it was silent, nobody around, “Hey, you sure you can drive this tank, these roads are thin, and sharp-slippery, I’ve been here before, they can get treacherous…” said Ralph.

Chick came around a shape corner just then, and straight ahead was an incline (a slant to the curve), an embankment of some thirty-feet forward and beyond, and he slammed on the brakes to make the curve he had been going too fast (not the thing to do) and the car jerked and slid, and they were all carried like a kite into the wooded embankment, trashing through the bushes and trees like a huge elephant, until they slammed onto the icy Mississippi River. The river was hard and likened to a platform, everyone knocked out, and the car that stood taller than Evens, or as tall, or near as tall, was pert near, three feet shorter.

Evens now woke up and found himself half in and half out of the car, and the ice cracking. Now he stopped to look about, “Bad luck!” he said, and pulled Ralph, out of the car first, and then the two girls…and nobody was damaged that bad, thank God, only a few concussions, and a nightly checkup cleared the girls of their dilemma, as Ralph and Evens walked the few miles left to his sisters house, and the girls had found a ride to the hospital: although the phone call Evens got from the girls mother the following day was a bit unpleasant.

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To whom is the new Tramadol label adressed?

  • Posted on July 27, 2010 at 1:20 pm

In our reactions to news no doubt we all have our own experiences, but we do rely on other people’s opinions too. Thus, if we believe the benefits of a “product” outweigh the costs, we will probably buy it or take part in the activity. Althogh if we think we might lose out, we’ll try to avoid or reject the “product”. But avoiding something, you are not able to find out the truth about the “product”. Most marketing campaigns rely on optimistic statements, which is natural, and the result may leave you disappointed. But your experience gives you the chance to check your expectations. It’ s worse, when we accept advice from people who think the same way we do, rather than from thу people who might don’t share our beliefs. A trust issue, isn’t it?

Let’s look at how we react when an “expert” tells us something. It usually depends on if we think the experts seem good or bad to us, e.g. in the pay of the manufacturers or committed to a particular political view. If that’s the case, the fact the advice might be accurate and timely will make no difference. It will be ignored.

Risk is similar to uncertainty, something you can’t measure easily. So the problem of how we react depends on how quickly the risk might come true. Try telling a cigarette smoker there’s a risk of cancer in twenty years time. It’s all about the pleasure now and the delusion you will do something about it before the risk gets more real.

Recently the FDA has announced a change in the labeling for Tramadol. They have also sent out a message to all doctors, telling them to change to the way in which they write prescriptions. The reason seems to be the death of one or two people as a result of taking opioid painkillers.

This is not so clear because the FDA don’t announce how many have died but, given past experience, we can assume the number is very small. The company tends to work on a precautionary basis and, if tens were dying, they would take the drug off the market. So waht’ sthe cause of these people’s death? It comes down to overdoses – a tiny percentage of cases. It seems one or two people who were emotionally disturbed and depressed died when they took too much of the drug. All health specialists are advised to discuss the use of painkillers such as Tramadol namely concerning its interactions with antidepressant drugs or tranquillizers.

Assuming the FDA is musch in the pocket of the last Administration than under Big Pharma. This fact would make this advice more credible. Anyway the reality of the the label’s warning only seems to be a red light to a tiny number of people given the millions who are on course of Tramadol. While we would never suggest you ignore an FDA announcement, you have to answer a simple question. When the benefits of this painkiller are real to you, and the risk only applies to people who are severely mentally ill, are you going to change your response? Just don’t be scared to much about the new label’s notice if pain is your only problem.

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Get a full check-up before just buying Viagra

  • Posted on at 12:40 pm

Can erectile dysfunction be a symptom of diabetes or heart disease? A trap you can fall into is assuming there’s nothing to worry about if erections stop appearing or fade rapidly into the night. Don’t deceive yourself? If you decided not to see a doctor, you can find anonymity in the internet. You can restore your male function and self-confidence easily with the little blue pills, Viagra. But you need to think carefully. Adding to the already impressive pile of evidence comes some new research out of Australia which followed a big group of men over a period of years. It seems that men aged 20 and above who experience erectile dysfunction are twice as likely to have a stroke or heart attack than men whose sexual performance is normal. To give you just one set of age-related numbers: if men have a serious episode of erectile dysfunction at the age of 55 and above, 2% will have a stroke or heart attack within twelve months, 11% within five years. The risk is actually greater if you are younger.

About 90% of males with diabetes have some degree of erectile dysfunction. Look at this differebtly. Always have the test for glucose levels, if you have erectile dysfunction. Should you have diabetes and fail to get treatment, the progress of the disease slowly destroys the nerve endings controlling erections. So, even though you may have some respite when you begin using the little blue pills, they will slowly lose their effect. If the damage is too serious, you will never have an erection again. There’s no current treatment to repair lost nerve endings.

So if you want to live a full and active life, first get a check-up. No matter how hard we try to wish this inconvenient truth away, it stays the truth. So feel no pressure. If you have what seems to be a sequence of erection failures, you could go online and buy Viagra from one of the pharmacies. Online prices are usually low. And you avoid embarrassment. But that does you little good if, a short while later, you begin to experience chest pain. While Viagra will keep you going, diabetes, or God save, a stroke or heart attack can ruin your health. But diabetes can be treated and all damage to nerve endings prevented. Nowadays, there’s an excellent series of medications on the market to reduce the chances of heart disease to zero so long as you start early enough. These observations are taken from the corresponding aticle on Viagra and general health concerns.

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Getting Dental Implants at the Best Prices

  • Posted on July 25, 2010 at 6:08 am



Do you want to get dental implants, but prices seem too expensive? There is a solution and this article will help you save thousands of dollars, while getting top quality dental work.

The first aspect to remember is that price verses what you get is not always linked. There are places where things are more expensive.

Going to an expensive state in the US, you could easily pay more than double for the same thing. In reality, you could make big savings. And this saving could make all the difference.

The first step is to actually be able to do effective research. This research can be done best online, and in a short period of time, you can find exactly what you are looking for.

Big savings can be seen through this method, and it is great. Imagine making savings of thousands! If you have a need to get several dental implants, then this is certainly the route to make this happen!

The process is one that needs some of a time investment. Perhaps investing an hour is sufficient, and will allow you to actually be able to go through and find the best places to go to.

Remember to factor in travel and staying costs, as well as any other costs. The result however, is that you can still make big savings. When you consider savings a thousand dollars or more, it does make sense to shop around.

With more and more specialists offering the service, you can rest assured that you can find exactly what you are looking for.

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